Siena

Another sketch from Italy. This is from Siena. A place I tend to return to again and again. The atmosphere is wonderful. And the thousands of tourists that pour through the narrow streets don´t seem to be able to beat the feeling of a real living town.

Tuscany

I went to glourius Tuscany for a the last few days of august. My attention was to fill my sketchbook obviously, between driving a small car from one medieval town to another. Though scared beoynd imagination the first day out in Italian traffic I got used to it pretty fast and the last day I shouted scusi!!! out loud when I was doing yet another strange manouver, for the Italians, that is. I didn´t cause any major accidents thank God and came home with a bunch of sketches. Here, the first of them. from Piazza del Amfiteatro in Lucca.

Slow day

Summer vacation is over and I´m back to spending my days at the office in Skövde. Well, just two more weeks and then I´m off to Italy. Oh, I will draw heaps I hope. Here is one of the very few old, small and idyllic houses we have left in Skövde. The town was brutally (we thing now) modernized in the 60´s and a lot of the old houses were torn down. I really like the color of this warm warm yellow almost orange. Nice.

Bornholm illustrations

In june, I visited the lovely island Bornholm. The round church is typical for the area. Below the very idyllic town Gudhjem. The food is great and I can really recommend a visit.

Easter sunday

This old house is located opposites my parents. It´s a summer house these days and has a lot of athmosphere and old charm.

Could you help me out?

I´ve collected a couple of hundred of sketches the last few years. Most of them from Sweden. I must admit that I´ve been thinking about collecting them somehow, maybe get the opportunity to publish. But there are a couple of major questions before I give it a real chance.
1. The text between the sketches. What would you like to read about? Should there be very little text or longer parts.
2. The sketches... will it be boring to have all i color? Is a mixture of black and white and color to prefer?
3. Are these type of sketches something you would be at all interested in picking up in a bookstore?
4. The text would be in english, the motifs from Sweden. Is that a crazy idea?
I would be sincerely grateful for some thought from you out there. And you can be brutally honest..... well not too brutal maybe but definitaley honest.
All the best and thanx
/Christina

the Neighbours

No spring yet. We´re giving up hope here. Could someone pleeeeease move the gulf stream a bit in our direction.

25 degrees below 0, celsius that is. It´s just tooooo cold. Ten seconds without a mitten and you can´t feel your fingers. I took a snapshot to base this sketch on. It was the only way and even that was almost too much.

Keep it warm

Look at the picture above. It´s been snowing all day adding to what we already have. I´m staying in, working, and look at my new mug/thermos. Perfect to keep the coffee hot. Wouldn´t survive without it.

Playing with pattern

I spent two days in Stockholm trying to absorb some inspiration and influences this week. I visited a fair and tried to really absorb everything I saw but but it was immensly nice to take the train back home again. And it´s the same thing every time. I met two dear friends though, had wonderful exotic food I never get to eat otherwise and had long and interesting conversations about art and exciting ideas. I´ve seen so many intreresting pattern and prints that I hade to doodle away in an atempt of my own.

Fantasy

A wimsical piece of fantasy image. A medieval town made in illustrator.

Stuff

Hi everyone! New year and another pic from my workplace. I have moved into a larger room which feels great. I have even two tables ( though I share the room) . One workplace is outside the picture. I´m sitting in an old apartment in the centre of town and share it with 4 other creators. It´s completely white outside due to all the snow we have gotten since Christmas. Many might think that Sweden always have snow in winter but here in the south some winters are more green than white actually.

The sketch is from Copenhagen. I visited this wonderful town in november and it was warm enough to sit outside and draw. It helped to have an irish coffee to sip on but anyway. Wish I can go back in summer.

At work

Some days just start the wrong way. But there are ways to pave the way for creativity. A work place where you feel really at home is a good start. Today a chose a jazzy playlist and lit a candle. A the day has been good creatively.

Sketches from Visby

Summer is almost over. I´ve had several weeks of vacation and complete freedom. For two weeks I took part in an archeological excavation on Gotland ( the big island just east of our mainland). Last week I spent some days at another one, one hour from here. It´s an interest of mine that has been slumbering since I was 20. Back then I seriously considered the proffession. Well, I´m pleased with my choice to take it up as an amateur, it has been a truly fulfilling experience with new friends and new knowledge. But I also got some days for myself and my sketching. One day I spent in medieval town Visby, where I drew furiously for hours almost without a break. Here are a couple of them.

Yesterday I got a very nice suprise. A heavy parcel arriwed with a few copies of The big book of contemporary illustration. I´m a very proud participant and are truly impressed with the work of the other contributors. Wow!!!

Sketches from Visby

Evening sketches

Good evening,

Time to go to bed but I decided to post these pictures that I made this evening. It´s daylight until 11 and I want to enjoy it. I wanted to capture some details in town so I took the bike and did a little tour. The bike is very handy since I can sit on the parcel carrier ( I hope this is the correct word ).As you can see we have some very nice lamp post. These are actually quiet new but produced in an old design. My home town is very well preserved and is a popular place to visit among tourists. Our location by lake Vättern is probably another major reason for a visit.
By the way, I was back to my eye docor today. My eyes are still healing and my eyesight is not perfect yet. But it will be eventually.

Waiting, healing

Hi everyone,

I´ve been a bit invisible here again but this time for a very good reason. I´ve had surgery on my eyes to correct my quiet impressive near sightness. It´s been two weeks now and my eye sight is almost back to 100%. I have used contact lenses for my entire grown up life. It´s still a bit problematic to work long hours in front of the computor but sketching out door is fine now.
My first attempt was this one.

In Uppsala

Hi everyone,

It´s about time to post something again. Last week I was the busy little bee driving around half Sweden for different commissions but I took time to make at least one sketch.

This is from Uppsala again. 4 hours drive from my home town. Uppsala has an old scholar atmosphere and I love the colours of the older buildings. 17th century colour scheme was quite bright and bold with a lot of ochre, yellow, pink and indian red. Sometimes even a smoky blue nuance. Here a view from beneath the cathedral. A lot of students on bike pass by me and through the portal.

Colorful

Hi everyone,

Thank you for your nice comments. They keep me posting.

Last week I was out and about one evening and passed this old barn. The angle for the sketch is a bit boring since I was sitting in exactly in front of the building but the pond and the road limited my choise.

Having to do with the second best position for a drawing is very common, at least to me.

Have anyone of you experienced the same? I´m also a bit shy when it comes to sitting down in public and try not to

draw too much attention to myself.

Spring is sprung

It has been a long dark winter but finally spring is here and with it some extra energy to spend on sketching. Sorry for not posting for so long but for some reason this winter has been very uninspiring.....and as usually, dark. The sketch above I did a couple of weeks ago in Uppsala. In Uppsala you can find the oldest university in Sweden, founded in 1477. The whole town has an academic air to it. I draw a very wellknown view with the cathedral in the background.